Santarus, Par, Apple, Google: Intellectual Property

Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Santarus Inc. won a U.S. appeals
court ruling that lets it pursue efforts to block Par
Pharmaceuticals Cos. from selling generic versions of the
heartburn medicine Zegerid until 2016.

The court reversed a lower court’s findings that aspects of
two patents on the drug are invalid, and sent the case back for
further proceedings. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit also ruled yesterday that three other Zegerid patents
are invalid. The decision was posted on the court’s website.

Zegerid, which combines the compound omeprazole with
antacids, generated $43.2 million in sales last year, more than
a third of the $118.8 million in revenue for San Diego-based
Santarus, said Martha Hough, a company spokeswoman. The company
said it would seek an order halting further sales of Par’s
generic product plus cash compensation for any lost sales.

“We believe Par has no meritorious basis to further
dispute infringement or validity,” Santarus Chief Executive
Officer Gerald Proehl said in a statement. “We plan to
aggressively pursue all remedies available to us.”

The case’s two remaining patents, which expire in 2016,
cover ways that the medicine, known as a proton pump inhibitor,
can be absorbed into the bloodstream without being broken down
by stomach acid. The formula allows the drug to be administered
to patients who have difficulty swallowing capsules or tablets.

Par, based in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, didn’t appeal the
finding that it infringed the patents, according to the opinion.
It focused its arguments on claims the patents were invalid and
unenforceable.

Santarus stopped promoting Zegerid after losing the lower-court ruling in April 2010 and began selling an unbranded
version of the medicine, according to its annual report. Zegerid
also is sold over the counter in a lower-dosage form under a
licensing agreement with Merck & Co.

The patents, including one of the two revived yesterday,
also are the subject of a case Santarus filed against Cadila
Healthcare Ltd.’s Zydus unit that was put on hold pending the
outcome of the Par appeal. There is also a suit filed against
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. last month.

The case is Santarus Inc. v. Par Pharmaceutical Inc.,
2010-1360 and 2010-1380, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit (Washington). The lower court case is Santarus Inc. v.
Par Pharmaceutical Inc., 07-cv-551, U.S. District Court,
District of Delaware (Wilmington).

Oracle Must Pay Some of Google’s Expenses for Android Trial

Oracle Corp. must reimburse Google Inc. about $1 million
for expenses the search engine company incurred during a patent
trial over its Android software, a judge ruled.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco approved
Google’s request to recover its costs for experts because it was
the winning party at the trial. He rejected reimbursement of
almost $3 million from Oracle for electronic searches connected
to the trial.

A jury found May 7 that Mountain View, California-based
Google, owner of the world’s most popular search engine,
infringed Oracle’s copyrights when it developed Android software
for mobile devices yet deadlocked on whether the copying was
“fair use.” That blocked Oracle, the largest maker of database
software, from being able to seek as much as $1 billion in
damages from Google. The jury found May 23 that Google didn’t
infringe two Oracle patents.

Alsup also said in an order yesterday that he wasn’t
influenced by any written commentary about the case in his trial
rulings unless he cited a specific article in a decision. He had
ordered Oracle and Google to disclose any financial ties to
individuals who wrote about the trial, saying commentary that
appears to be independent may influence courts.

He denied Google’s request to set aside the jury’s
copyright verdict or order a new trial.

The case is Oracle v. Google, 10-3561, U.S. District Court,
Northern District of California (San Francisco).

For more patent news, click here.

Trademark

Google Rival Foundem Seeks Disclosures to Users in EU Deal

An Internet company that filed a European Union antitrust
complaint against Google Inc. said the company should tell users
when it inserts its own products into search results as part of
any settlement with antitrust regulators.

Foundem, a U.K. shopping comparison website that asked the
EU to investigate after its ranking fell in Google search
results, also said in a document outlining its proposals that
the search engine should refrain from highlighting its own
services or penalizing rivals’ rankings. Foundem also said an
oversight panel should adjudicate disputes over the rankings.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, is negotiating
with EU regulators over a possible settlement of the antitrust
probe. It is under growing pressure from global regulators
probing whether the company is thwarting competition in the
market for Web searches. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and
antitrust agencies in Argentina and South Korea are also
scrutinizing the company.

Under Foundem’s proposals, the oversight panel would be the
final port of call for any complaints that Google artificially
moves some websites down in the search rankings. Foundem
suggests that sites that are bumped down should be informed why
and given the chance to appeal against Google’s decision, it
said.

Al Verney, a spokesman for Google in Brussels, said the
company was working with the European Commission and has made a
proposal to address the potential concerns of regulators.

Foundem was one of several companies, including Microsoft
Corp. that complained to the EU about Google, prompting the
antitrust probe.

While Microsoft and partner Yahoo! Inc. have about a
quarter of the U.S. Web-search market, Google has almost 95
percent of the traffic in Europe, Microsoft said in a blog post
last year, citing data from regulators.

China to Double Trademark Infringement Fines, Official Says

Fines for trademark infringement are set to be doubled, as
high as 1 million yuan ($157,500), the news service reported.

Those who commit repeated violations will be hit with more
severe penalties, Zhang Jinhua, of the Legislative Affairs
Office of the State Council said at a conference Sept. 3,
according to Xinhua News.

For more trademark news, click here.

Copyright

Hackers Threaten Retaliation for Pirate Bay Founder’s Expulsion

A group of anonymous hackers said it has shut down key
Cambodian websites in retaliation for the planned expulsion of
Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, the Associated Press
reported.

Warg, who was given a prison sentence and ordered to pay a
fine in a Swedish criminal copyright infringement case related
to alleged illegal downloading done through the Pirate Bay site,
had been living in Phnom Penh, according to AP.

The wire service reported that Warg had failed to appear at
a 2010 appeal hearing in Sweden.

Among the websites the hacker group said it shut down are
those belonging to the Cambodian Public Works Ministry,
Institute of Standards, and the army, according to AP.

Bit-Torrent Downloaders Are Being Watched, U.K. Study Finds

Those who use the Bit Torrent file-sharing protocol to
download newly released film or music are monitored within three
hours by third-party organizations, a study from the U.K.’s
Birmingham University has found, according to a report by the
BBC.

The survey found that monitoring groups are copyright-enforcement groups, security companies and research labs,
according to the BBC.

The monitoring doesn’t distinguish between those who
consistently illegally download large amounts of content and
those who unload a single film, the BBC reported.

The study also found that much of the downloading was
taking place through sites that weren’t on lists of identified
sources of purloined content, which indicates that blocking of
such sites isn’t working, according to the BBC.

For more copyright news, click here.

Trade Secrets/Industrial Espionage

Samsung Says High-Tech TVs Disappear En Route to Trade Show

The disappearance of two of Samsung Electronics Co.’s
television sets that were being sent to a consumer electronics
fair in Germany has raised fears of industrial espionage, the
U.K.’s Telegraph reported.

Loss of the sets, which use the organic-light-emitting
diode technology, could potentially represent billions of
dollars of losses of advanced television technology, according
to the Telegraph.

The technology, which is a successor to liquid crystal
displays, is used in some Samsung smartphones, the newspaper
reported.

Although Samsung filed a complaint with police in Germany,
the Korean company said it didn’t know at which point the two
sets disappeared en route to the show, according to the
Telegraph.

IP Moves

Seyfarth Firm Expands IP Practice, Hires Apotex’s Upadhye

Seyfarth Shaw LLP hired Shashank Upadhye for its IP
practice, the Chicago-based firm said in a statement yesterday.

Upadhye joins from Toronto-based Apotex Inc., where he was
vice president and global head of intellectual property. He has
also served as head of intellectual property at the U.S. unit of
Sandoz International GmbH.

His areas of specialization are IP issues related to
medical devices and pharmaceuticals, including generic drugs.

Upadhye has undergraduate degrees in business and
biochemistry from Brock University, a law degree from New
England School of Law and a master’s degree in intellectual
property law from John Marshall Law School.